Conn will work without a co-host until a replacement for Cotto is named.

Also out is Muller's co-host, Pat Cassidy, whom Muller noted on the air Wednesday was summoned from the studio by management before the end of their show. It long has been speculated Cassidy, who seemed miscast alongside Muller,
might be inclined to return to his old job at WBBM-AM 780, where he was Felicia Middlebrooks' morning
co-anchor before joining WLS-AM for what he thought would be his own
talk show in 2008.

Muller, who learned of his dismissal immediately after getting off the air Wednesday, will continue to do his separate syndicated morning show heard on stations around the country.

Fowler had hired Muller to replace Jerry Agar on
WLS-AM in the fall of 2008, 27 months after his syndicated
Chicago-based "Mancow's Morning Madhouse" lost its home station. Emmis
Communications' WKQX-FM 101.1 had pulled the plug in July 2006 after
eight years.

"It's
going to be like feeling my way through the fog at first," he said. "I
have been through the desert the last 2 1/2 years. WLS is the oasis."

Muller
for a time did commentaries for Fox News Channel's Fox & Friends
and public broadcaster WTTW-Ch. 11's "Chicago Tonight." He had said he
hoped his WLS-AM work would further distance him from his shock-jock
past. But he continued to court controversy in a variety of attention-grabbing ways.

Jacobson,
who worked with Magers previously on both WLS-AM and at
WMAQ-Ch. 5, welcomed him back to radio on Muller's program by calling
him arrogant hours
before his Tuesday return to Conn's show. Magers later said that was
for others to decide, but he explained on Conn's show that he didn't
want to interact with her when they were both part of that program.

In an emotional rebuttal on Muller's show Wednesday, Jacobson expressed
surprise that Conn indicated station management installed her on
his program against his wisheshad to push for her addition to the program, disappointment that Conn was upset by the criticism of Magers * and said her problems with Magers dated
to 1997, when she helped Jerry Springer use a Channel 5 newsroom
computer during his stint as a commentator. That controversial
experiment ultimately cost the station viewers, esteem and lead anchors
Magers and Carol Marin.

---

* The original wording of this sentence was written and reported hastily on deadline, and the afternoon rewrite seems a more accurate reflection of what was said on the air.

Conn said Tuesday that management asked him to add Jacobson and he agreed "if it helps her personally, then that's fine ... I was kind of OK with it."

Jacobson on Muller's show Wednesday said: "Right now, I'm more hurt by what Roe Conn said because I love Roe Conn. I loved being on 'The Roe Conn Show.' And I am always grateful, and Roe Conn knows this, that he gave me a chance and that he helped me. It's easier to die, guys. The hard part is the living part. When you are broken down to absolutely nothing and you have nothing left, the fact that he gave me a chance. So I'm really hurt. I wasn't ripping on 'The Roe Conn Show.' I love 'The Roe Conn Show,' and I love when Ron Magers is on 'The Roe Conn Show,' so I hope that that continues and I hope that they're successful. Yeah, Ron Magers might be arrogant, but it's great to listen to him because he's a historical figure. He knows everything about every topic and he's entertaining. So that's all I have to say about that. I am done getting emotional, and that's that."

All good stuff. Mancow is an outrageous tool who thinks a lie is true if you say it loudly enough and often enough. And Cotto never sat well with me in one of the only not-so-political (and thus, one of the only entertaining) shows on the WLS lineup. Bouquets all around for the Big 89.

Cotto didn't really fit on Roe's show, but it appears that Bill Leff is employed by your employer, at least for the next few weeks.It will be hard to conceive of Roe without a sidekick, but luckily it won't be Mike North. Does Murph follow Wolf and North in getting unsuccessful tryouts on the Roe Show?

Roe stated that the prior management didn't know what it was doing, but I'm not sure that the present management does, either.

The Jacobson-Magers feud was aired on Magers's segment, but no one has really explained what was behind it, other than Ron doesn't want to talk to Amy.

In the meantime, it seems like neither WLS nor WGN has a clue regarding how to get out of the cellar in the ratings for 50,000 watt Blowtorch radio stations.

Mancow is the most talented personality in radio - Period. The guy actually makes me laugh out loud daily. That's a feat most appreciated in a stressful world with sober realities. Mancow is too good. He'll find another home - hopefully right away.

Mancow and his edgy program which I have a personal friend who knows him. Sometimes it is good to know the truth, its a good thing. BUT, Kids do not have to hear all of the provacative statements/stories he constantly was presenting. Where in the world was the music? He chattered more than presenting the music. If anything, they should of just considered to reorganize the program. They really did not have to eliminate him. You could of given him a break.
We will still miss him.

I enjoyed the Mancow-Cassidy interaction and felt it was a pretty good bridge from an increasingly vapid Don-Roma show.
Good luck, fellows, it was a fun run.
Cisco is great and it's a relief to see him no longer smothered by insipid frat boy Roe. Good luck Cisco.
Now, Drew, in an act that would redeem you from ditching M-C, throw that dreadful Blago out of the Sunday slot. He offers nothing but bad Karma.

This is too bad. While I thought he was generally awful on Q101 because of his tendency to attempt to relate to the lowest factions of society (prank calls, sexist competitions, etc.), he is very entertaining when discussing politics.

His often middle-of-the-road political sense and beliefs which do not completely agree with either party (especially republicans) must not play very well pre-Rush. Hopefully he finds another Chicago outlet and he keeps his current format.

Wow, Mancow made his bed with his arrogance in the 90's and later. He can be interesting, but he seems to choose not to be. Amy Jacobson sounds like a real piece of work when you throw in her firing after the release of her swimsuit pics at Craig Stebic's while she was "investigating" Lisa Stebic's disappearance. She sounds a little ruthless, and not to forward thinking.

I'm extremely disappointed. Mancow was & still is awesome. A breath of fresh air & well informed. My only wish is that I knew it was his last show on WLS. I have no problem with Cotto but Mancow got the day started with humor and knew how to pick up great guests, push their buttons and used his charisma well.

Amy Jacobson should consider a new career path. Making such contentious statements (whether justified) is a CLM (Career Limiting Move). She is not in the position for criticizing fellow journalists, while mending her career from her TV career-ending debacle. She is bitter; you can hear it in her tone.

Cisco had me trying to listen to Roe again. I like what Roe says, but his constant yowling vocal habit gets on my last nerve, and I thought Cisco's presence might cut that way down. Apparently not. I never listened to Mancow. I just don't like the bomb-throwing style affected by some radio personalities. I prefer thoughtful humor. I now listen to Dennis Miller online starting at 9.

I used to work with Pat Cassidy, and he was to good for that show. Sorry he lost his job. As for the rest of the station, It is like listening to someone complain 24 hours a day. To much for me. WLS and when he was on the Score Mike North were the reasons I got XM Radio!

About this blog

This is an expansion of the Chicago Tribune column I have written since April 2005, and the columns I wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times and Los Angeles’ Daily News for two decades before that. It’s TV, radio, newspapers and whatever, both locally and nationally. Beyond sharing what crosses my desk—and my mind—this will be a venue for you to share your takes with me as well as with each other. About Phil Rosenthal